My favorite photo of Mike: On the job at the annual Polar Plunge at Elon.

Mike Wilder loved music. Anyone who knew the man at all could tell you that. He hummed to himself. He might spontaneously break out into song. He played the piano for senior citizens in retirement villages in his spare time. As a reporter, he wrote almost endlessly about musical events in nearly every school in Alamance County. At some point, a CD was produced of Mike playing what I call church music. I have one.

His interests crossed all genres: classical, pop, rock, gospel, country, Broadway tunes, a cappella, movie soundtracks, and those cheesy songs associated with old TV shows like “The Facts of Life.” He knew the words to all the songs from the comic opera “The Pirates of Penzance.” In fact, I’d say that of all the people I’ve known well in my life, he’s the only one whose opinion about opera I would take as even remotely accurate.

But he also knew all the words to the song from the TV show “Full House.” He was well-rounded in that way — doggoned annoying sometimes, too.

My spouse, Roselee Papandrea, always learned this the hard way. She made the mistake once of buying a plastic bag of kazoos from Wal-Mart and bringing them to the office. When she handed one to Mike, Roselee anticipated a look of disdain. After all, Mike was a trained musician steeped in the classics. But Mike proceeded to play that kazoo all day long: everything from Abba’s “Take a Chance on Me” to the Prelude to Act III from Wagner’s “Lohengrin.”

“Trust me, you haven’t lived until you’ve heard opera on a cheap kazoo,” Roselee said at a memorial service for Mike.

About the only music I ever heard Mike express a distaste for was that of The Beatles. He was a contrarian in that way, too.

Mike loved music so much that he had a piano in his small apartment. It followed him for years I suspect. And upon his untimely death from cancer on April 14, 2013, it was discovered that he wasn’t the best housekeeper. The one pristine thing in his messy apartment was the piano. It was almost spotless. Just one thing rested on top of it — that kazoo.

So when we planned a fundraiser before Mike’s death to help him pay his medical bills and other expenses, we decided music would be a central theme. Mike didn’t live long enough to see that event, what we called “An Evening of the Arts.” When Mike passed away in the spring, we elected to continue with our planned fundraiser anyway. The money, we decided, would go to the Alamance Regional Charitable Foundation, particularly the Patricia Bynum Fund and C.R. Byrd Fund to assist Alamance County cancer patients with expenses and incidentals.

Now it’s become an annual event held in Mike’s memory — and a successful one. We’ve held three to date, each featuring a different style of music produced by local performers. The total from all three concerts and associated art auctions is almost $14,500, according to Katie Boon, director of the ARMC Foundation.

Not bad.

This brings us to our concert for 2016, which is set for Aug. 14. We’re changing the format and venue, but it’s still about the music. Our publisher, Paul Mauney, suggested finding praise bands from area churches to take part and perhaps moving the concert site to a larger facility than the Paramount Theater.

That led to an interesting idea.

We reached out to Lamb’s Chapel in Haw River, which hosts major events like high school graduations attended by several hundred people. They readily agreed to be the site, then came up with a counterproposal. A well-known country-bluegrass gospel group, The Isaacs, would be touring nearby. They might be interested in playing and could draw a large crowd. The band has nearly 20 albums / CDs, and has played everywhere, including the Grand Ol’ Opry.

A lot of street cred there.

The folks at Lamb’s Chapel closed the deal. The Isaacs will play at a greatly reduced rate with a lion’s share of the proceeds going to the ARMC Foundation. It’s estimated that a thousand people might attend the benefit show. Last year, we had a little more than 150. Tickets ($25 for VIP seating, $15 general admission and $10 children 12 years old or younger) are available now at the Times-News, by calling 336-506-3071, or online at bpt.me/2570599.

Hopefully, this will be a big night for the ARMC Foundation and the services it offers to the many who struggle in their fight with cancer. And, hopefully, it will be great music, too.

Mike would approve.

Madison Taylor is editor of the Times-News. Contact him by email at mtaylor@thetimesnews.com

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